Companies commonly utilize computer software applications during product development and analysis. For example, many software products are currently available for creating and manipulating 3D models of a manufactured or assembled product. The 3D model can be used for a number of purposes, including for the visualization of defects or other data, such as by overlaying heatmap data, or other data, on the 3D model. Oftentimes, the product includes a plurality of parts and/or assemblies, increasing the complexity of the data to be displayed.
Additional views, including 2D views, are also useful during the lifecycle of the product. Although mathematical models exist for calculating 2D views from a 3D model, they often are not optimal and require additional manual development or manipulation, which is not re-usable. This additional time and expense in the development process is highly inefficient.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,846 to Krimmer discloses a method for generating a 2D view of a 3D model. According to the method, a test is made to determine whether or not a predefined 2D representation of the object is available for the 2D representation. If so, the predefined 2D representation is used in the 2D view; if not, a 2D projection of the object is calculated and used in the 2D view. However, accuracy of the 2D projection is questionable, at best.